May is here already!

What!  It's May already?

Even my most enthusiastic learner is over this whole school thing and ready for summer.  He used to be the first one with his school work out each morning and now he's saying he doesn't want to do it anymore.  I hope it's just spring burn out and a summer break will renew his excitement.  

Birthday Dinner at Gold Feather
She wanted chicken and waffles, and, boy, did she get it!  She got Red Velvet Waffles and Chicken with gravy.  

 Genevieve turned 15 at the beginning of this month.  She is dying to get started on Driver's Ed and get her permit, but she wants to finish up finals before adding that to her schedule.  The weekend before her birthday I took her shopping and we got her some make-up which is the 15 year old privilege.  She wants to go to Fiesta Texas with a couple friends after school is over in lieu of a birthday party.

For Mother's Day I was blessed to be able to see some long-time friends from college (two from out of town) for dinner the night before.  

Before Mass on Mother's Day, I was showered with home-made cards and some flowers and a card from my husband.

You might not be able to tell, but he drew me Thor.  

And Thor's hammer!

My Mother's Day card from Isaac.  He loves to make pop up cards for me.  He said this card took him more than two hours. ❤❤❤

The next week it was talent show time!  My three home-schoolers got to perform in the talent show.  All three played the piano (Bob's been learning from Genevieve.) and Bobby even did a stand up comedy routine with cat jokes he read and memorized from a book.

Judah was so focused during his piece.  After he bowed, he got a "deer in the headlights' look and didn't know what to do.  I had to whisper-yell for him to get his book and wave him off stage.  :) 

What a tiny peanut!

The cat jokes were a huge hit mainly because he was so adorable I think!  I was very proud of him for being so brave.  When we first took our seats before the talent show began, he whispered to me that he didn't want to do it anymore.  I told him that I'd walk him up there, and he agreed pretty easily.

I got a video of Drew and he was too fast to get off stage and I didn't get a picture of him playing.

The very small group of kids this year that were able to come and participate

Busy April Part III

The very night that our company left, Brian and I headed to a benefit dinner for A Woman's Haven featuring none other than the eloquent Senator Sarah Palin.  We hosted a table and were able to meet her during a VIP hour.

And to continue the craziness of this month, we got in the car early the next morning to drive to Kentucky for our godson's First Communion.  It was a 16 hour drive and I got to do more of the driving than usual because Brian had stayed up late too many nights in a row and was exhausted.  The trip went smoothly and Kentucky is beautiful in the spring.  Only the home-schooled kids went with Brian and I, the big three stayed behind with their Mimi to go to school.

The first day we were there, the kids played hard and we visited with our good friends.  The second day was the Mass.  

We're so proud of you!

The third day, we went on an adventure to explore the land and area of southern Indiana.  It is on our list of potential retirement options.  We started with Meinrad Abbey.  Parts of it were closed to the public, but we went to the gift shop and talked to a bunch of people.  We left with an awesome statue of St. Isadore the Farmer who is one that is near and dear to my husband's heart.  Here is one of the small chapels that was open.

We drove to the sister convent of St. Meinrad and had lunch at the onsite brewery and pizza place next to their gift shop while Brian chatted with the guy who ran the brewery about the area.

We drove around to several other small towns to get an idea of where things are, what it looked like, how big the towns are, and how far grocery stores are from different areas.

I peeked inside a few churches and they all looked like this, but some were smaller. 

One of our evening walks in their neighborhood ended up in ice cream and a fountain photo.

Our last day was spent out at a winery/distillery with a restaurant, a lake, and an ice cream shop.  We enjoyed them all!

 It was a great trip with friends we hadn't seen in TWO YEARS!!!

April was a busy one! Part II

Judah had his First Confession on April 14th!  

Freshly Confessed!

 

Celebratory Ice Cream Cones!

The very next day his sponsor for his Confirmation arrived with his family, our friends from the DC area!  Everyone was very excited about this visit and it meant a lot of fun outing trips around San Antonio and, of course, some BBQ and Mexican food!

Judah was looking sharp in his three piece suite.

Before Mass

    The day of his First Communion and Confirmation was April 18th, 2021 I took him early to have his pictures taken and get organized for the special Mass.  The rest of the crew came behind us shortly to get good seats.  Brian actually snagged the best seats ever and we were the first tow rows behind the First Communicants and Confirmandi.  Best seats ever!  The vicar general was there instead of the bishop and it was a very nice Mass.  Five down and only one to go!

After the Mass!

Judah and his sponsor

All the kids!

Our Family

Just the Girls

Judah with his cake and gift of the St. George and the Dragon mug that Isaac and I collaborated on.

Isaac drew the dragon, and I did the rest.  It's on my Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/listing/979478686/st-george-the-dragon-mug?ref=shop_home_active_1

We celebrated afterwards at our house with smoked chickens, baked beans, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, dip, and cake!

One of the days, we took our guests to the Alamo and the River Walk.

The kids on the River Walk

Drew liked this red tunnel.

One of the days we went to Mass at the Mission of Divine Mercy and then ate barbecue at Black's.

Blacks BBQ

One of the days we relaxed a bit and went to Lupe Tortilla's for dinner.

Lupe Tortillas, the best beef fajitas ever

Isaac, after taking a giant bite of a really hot pepper

The kids all watching old videos of themselves.

One of the days, we went to Fredericksburg to Mass at the old, beautiful church there.  We had a German meal and did some shopping.

What a fun week!